The role of antiviral treatment in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic: a modeling study.

Several antiviral drugs have shown to be highly effective in reducing hospitalizations in clinical trials. We used a mathematical model to assess the potential impact of antiviral treatments in four different countries with vastly different proportions of vaccinated individuals (Kenya, Mexico, United States and Belgium). Irrespective of location, widespread antiviral use in adult symptomatic infections can prevent most deaths. Furthermore, a third of deaths could be averted by treating only 20% of adult symptomatic infections. We identified a synergistic effect of antiviral treatment and vaccination by which countries with larger proportion of their population vaccinated benefited more from antiviral treatments. Our results show that antiviral treatments can be an extremely useful tool to reduce COVID-19 deaths and curtail SARS-CoV-2 transmission.